Julian Lennon’s heartache exposes the plight of the musical nepo baby
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The son of John Lennon was upset after late-night hosts declined to invite him onto their shows to plug his latest album. Roisin O’Connor says he should be grateful that music is arguably the only entertainment industry where success demands real talent.
![[Julian Lennon was upset at the apathetic response to his most recent album]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/05/16/newFile.jpg)
Poor Julian Lennon. In a recent interview, the son of complete unknowns John Lennon and Cynthia Powell revealed his heartbreak over the reception to Jude, his 2022 album. “The idea was to hit a couple of the American late-night TV shows and the likes of Graham Norton and Jools Holland, but sadly nobody would have me on, so that was a bit of a letdown,” he told The Observer.
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Lennon had, he said, been “amazed” at how great he and his band sounded during rehearsals in Los Angeles. Clearly he thought others would be, too. Except, what has Lennon done to deserve our attention – apart from being the son of someone very, very famous? If he were anyone else, the 61-year-old's track record of so-so albums with meagre chart success wouldn’t earn a second glance from even the most sympathetic of late-night hosts.
Lennon would have a better case to gripe about his late-night snub if the music itself was truly excellent. The best most critics could muster about his debut album Valotte, though, was that it was “tasteful”. Writing for The Village Voice, esteemed critic Robert Christgau condemned it as “bland professional pop of little distinction…with no discernible reason for being”. It fared decently in the charts and (definitely nothing to do with his surname) nabbed him a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.
